The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1887-01-13
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
STILL :IrARrING on RAILROADS
lio Scores Them for Alleged lDIscriminn.
.tions, aud Lashes tho Powerful Corpor.
ations Genornily-Tho-Abuse OF Free
Passss-stab Mt Senator Camden.

tionS, hud Lashes tho Powerful Corror.
ations Generniiy-Tho.Abuseo Of Free
Passss-stab ut Senator Camden.
Special Dipaich 10 ne Inttllgsneer.
CHARLESTON, w. Va, Jan. 1o.-Gov.
ernor Wilson, in his message sent In TO-
day, goes vigorously ior. railroad diacrimi.
nation. He says railroad companies are
chartered. and the right Of eminent do.
main conferred upon them by and for the
benefit Of the State granting tho charter.
It cannot be conceived that such char.
ter was ever granted by any Legislative
authority with the understanding, express
or implied, that powers were thereby Gre.
ated permitting discrimination between
citizens Of the same or against them in
favor Of citizens Of other States. Sufficient
transportation facilities and reasonable
freight charges are absolutely essential
for material development. The unrea.
sonable, unjust and ruinous discrimina.
tion against our people In freight and
passenger charges by the trunk line roads
passing through the State is so we'll known
by every inquiring man that 1t Is unneces.
sary to cite proofs or incidents. Until It
shall be eGectually prohibited by law that
degree OF prosperity TO which this State is
fairly entitled can he lent the indulgence
Of an idle hope.
ALLEGED DETERMINATION OF TRUNK LINES
No power or authority could by Justice
and right have deprived this State Of It's
natural geographical advan tsges, yet by
mere corporate creatures through a eys.
tenn Of discrimination by trunk line rail-
roads, 1t has been done as thoroughly and
completely as II the State were situated
five hundred miles 10 the westward. There
Is not Western State but ships It's stock,
farm products and manufactured articles
to the Atlantic cities for from twenty-five
to fifty percent less for the same amount
OF freight than is e1acted from the West
Virginia shipper to the same destina.
ton, while like character OF discrimina.
tion Is enforced as between citizens and
localities Of our own State. This unjust
and unrelentiDg practice OF more than
quarter Of century has taken annually
from the people Of this State millions OF
dollars in excess Of the amounts CHARGED
against Western and Eastern shippers for
the same quality and character. Of freight
transported all the way through this State
to points beyond. This excess of freight
charges is the measure Of advantage that
has been secured to other States for their
marketable products and against the State
that give these corporations their legal
existence and which should have been
the reward Of West Virginia energy, thrift
and industry. +,
| " A COLOSSAL TRIBUTE. "a -
Truly this is q colossal tribute to an
overwhelming imposition. The logical
and necessary result has been that in
States less favored in natural undereloped
resources. .have outstripped US in expanded
population and the various industrial pur-
suits. Our gratifying progress Of the last
fow years is but an indication OF the
great possibilities Of the future when our
products, whether OF the farm, the mine,
the factory or the forest, shall be placed
upon the market for the same freight
charges for like service demanded OF the
people OF other States. Discrimination in
freight charges by chartered railroad
companies is a public evil from every
standpoint of public policy...It Emounts
to an abdication OF the sovereign power
Of the State over it's public highways and
q delegation OF that power to railroad
companies through the abuse Of which
they have destroyed the beneficial results
Of the the natural laws Of trade and com.
merce and dictated at will prosperity or
adversty, alike to the individuals and
localities. 1t has discouraged and pre-.
vented the investment Of capital in the
construction Of lateral railroads into the
interior OF the State, 80 essentially
Necessary for the development OF our re-.
sources by the application of the modern
rule Of cunning aud cupidity in charging
all the traffic will bear; leaving no mar.
| gin OF profit for the producer for
the payment Of lateral road freights to
functions with the trunk lines. 1t has
in we'll known instances turned away from
the State capital ready and anxious for
manufacturing and mining investment.
OTHER MoNopoLlRs LAID 1NTr1IE su Aps,
1t has encouraged, created and fostered
the most }stupendous monopolies known
within the history OF civilization before
whose career of Unsuitable and ayaricious
greed even the Hudson's Bay and East
India companies are dwarted into insig-
ni6cance, monopolies which defy public
opinion; which use their money with
shameless effrontery, equalod alone by
their lack Of patriotism to corrupt the po-
litical morals Of the country and influence
the action Of public officers, which increase
their ill-gotten gains to fabulous proper
tions in the midst Of want and languiah.
ing labor while their course ia strewn with
the wrecks OF honest individual enter.
prise, which are at once public curse in.
compatible with Democratic or Republican
government and a standing menace to free
institutions. Independently OF the con-
stitutional or statutory provisions 1t is
violation Of the common law of the land
as determined by the Supreme Court OF
the United States. It is violation Of tho
fundamental principle imbsdded in the
American system and declared in our
State Constitution that "the government
Is instituted for the common benefit, pro-
lection and security Of the people, No
legislative tribunal can legally destroy
that common benefit, common protection
and common security; and that which
cannot lawfully be done by positive and
direct act cannot legally be accomplished
through corporate agency. Z a =
RAILWAY LEGISLATION NEEDED.
Twenty-aix States of the Union have
passed laws for the regulation Of railway
charges. In none has the necessity been
30 urgent as here. Our laws give every
possible protection to the business and
property Of railroad companies, and we
should have protection for the people
against their unfair and unjust exactions.
The sooner this be done the better for all
concerned. II will protect and place the
State in It's proper position and beyond
the power of Misrepresentation by those
who for personal ends make no distinction
between legitimate business on the one